Sharp develops Mega Contrast

Sharp's "Mega Contrast" LCD technology may boast 1,000,000:1 but it falls short of BrightSide's HDR display.

Hot off the Japanese presses is the announcement that Sharp has developed &quot;a 'Mega-Contrast' Advanced Super View Premium LCD&quot; that delivers a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. The 37&quot; LCD is full 1080p HD-compliant, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

This news would have been more extraordinary were it not for the new-found understanding of LCD technology delivered by today's feature article: the BrightSide DR37-P - the world's first High Dynamic Range display.

While Sharp's claim of 1,000,000:1 is indeed impressive, the display has a peak luminance of just 500 cd/m². In order to hit the magic million-to-one contrast ratio, their engineers have simply reduced the minimum luminance to 0.0005 cd/m². Still an impressive feat, but while dark shades will indeed be dark, bright areas will still be capped at an ordinary 500 cd/m².

On the other hand, BrightSide's unique IMLED backlight is not only capable of producing pure 0 cd/m² blacks - zero light - but it can also simultaneously display a dazzling 4000 cd/m² peak luminance, eight times brighter than Sharp's LCD. In fact, BrightSide refer to it as an Extreme Dynamic Range display - as if mere High Dynamic Range didn't convey the full talents of their technology.

We were granted an exclusive preview recently, and there are lots of photos and videos to help demonstrate the difference HDR makes. Take note, because this technology is set to change the way you look at LCD displays forever.

BrightSide are licensing their technology to manufacturers, so we suggest the boys at Sharp give them a call.